See and Taste

Notes from the Pastor…

There is great joy in seeing new things.

For the last two weeks Kristyn and I got to see and taste new things.  The Royal House Oyster Bar at the corner of Royal and St. Louis Streets in New Orleans provided me with a new pallet experience, oysters on the half shell.  Arriving at Panama City Beach, Kristyn and I encountered the sugar white sands of the Florida gulf; the texture of which feels like velvet, and added to the sound of the waves, we were provoked into
relaxation.  Northward, passing through Birmingham, we lunched, or should I say “gluttonied”, at Dream Land Bar-B-Q… if you know not of what I speak, then you know not of the land of dreams and our grateful obligation to Peter in Acts 10.  Finally, we landed in Nashville, and the Loveless Café with its fried chicken and homemade biscuits.

There is great joy in seeing new things.

On a much higher and holier level, it is traveling away from the common and toward the unknown that releases us to see new things.  Theologically, this may mean investigating a Christian practice that you see as
odd or foreign.  Biblically, this may mean devotionally reading Ecclesiastes and spiritually entering the depths of a refugee.  Spiritually, this may mean intentional prayer time with neighbors.  Practically, this may mean
living with less entertainment and giving more to the poor.

There is great joy in seeing new things, but we must journey away from the comfortable to experience such joy.

May we be so brave!

Grace,
Pastor Ryan